There’s a new link in the chain that operates U.S. forces in war zones. You can see it in the Air Force’s own crash reports.

Usually, there’s a section up front called “Unit Information,” and it deals with the outfits involved in the accident. In this recent case, for example, the units involved were — starting with the biggest — the 12th Air Force, the 366th Fighter Wing, and the 391st Fighter Squadron.

But in the case of a recent drone accident, the units involved were the 432rd Wing, the 18th Reconnaissance Squadron, the 62nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, and “Battlespace Flight Services, LLC (Based in Las Vegas, NV).”

Huh?

Well, according to the accident report – which blamed the Feb. 14 accident in Afghanistan on a material failure compounded by operator error – Battlespace seems to do everything for the drones deployed to Afghanistan except fly them: